Anything Goes: The Jazz Age Adventures of Neysa McMein and Her Extravagant Circle of Friends

by Brian Gallagher

Neysa McMein epitomized the Jazz Age flapper: beautiful, rich, and socially prominent. However, unlike many women of the Twenties, she also earned her own living, working successfully as an illustrator. Noted for her parties, social life, and unconventional marriage (she and her husband enjoyed what we today would call an open marriage), Neysa's life was never dull. She entertained all the notables of the time, including Noel Coward, Harpo Marx, Helen Hayes, George Gershwin, as well as the members of the Algonquin Round Table. In this carefully researched biography, Gallagher provides an amusing and informative portrait of Neysa and her crowd, offering considerable insight into their lives and loves.

Genres: Nonfiction

241 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

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Reviews

[Alta King · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She might have married in haste, but she was going to honeymoon in leisure - surrounded, as usual, by a group of men friends. A new husband would have only spoiled the party."

That's an excerpt from the first chapter of "Anything Goes..." If that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what would! Neysa McMein is from Quincy, IL, moved to New York, and had a successful career creating illustrations for the covers of magazines including McCall's. She lived a fascinating and progressive life, considering her career and open marriage was in the 1920s and 30s. I don't give this five stars because the old-fashioned language was difficult to muddle through at times. But if you're interested learning about an interesting person from Quincy, I highly recommend it.

[Michele Cacano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, this depiction of illustrator Neysa Mcmein was a good read.
(Will add more later)

[Annie Garvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The key to Neysa McMein is Marjorie Moran McMein from Quincy. Gallagher is unable to give us a lot of insight into McMein's early years. Her father was a drunk and her mother was overly religious. McMein was brought up by family friends and relatives until she migrated to New York. In New York, McMein changed her name to Neysa and became a sought after illustrator.

She was known more for her friends than for her talent. There is speculation that Neysa had numerous lovers; however, Gallagher does not have definitive evidence of this.

McMein and her husband, Jack Baragwanath, had an open marriage. It seems that it was open more on Jack's side than on Neysa's. There is speculation that McMein, Jack and George Abbott has a menage-a-trois; however, there is no proof.

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh...of antiquarian interest I suppose. I learned a lot about the Algonquin Hotel set of the 20s and 30s, but I didn't learn much about why they are worth learning about. They were celebrities of the day, and some had talent, in the case of Neysa, considerable artistic talent, but in the end this book reminded me of a bunch of people who were primarily famous for being famous and who were awfully impressed with themselves and each other, in some cases for no apparent reason.

[Sarahjane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someday there will be a better treatment of McMein, but till then, this book is a wonderful resource.